


Not entirely unhelpful

by frith_in_thorns



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hera can be a massive brat, Hurt/Comfort, Tumblr Prompt, consequences of inadequate chemical storage, disaster space friends, maybe minlace who knows, this fic represents my gradual opinion change on Jacobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 09:44:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13432086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frith_in_thorns/pseuds/frith_in_thorns
Summary: "You should haveleadwith that," Lovelace snapped. She prodded Jacobi along as she opened a comms channel. "Minkowski? Are you okay?"There wasn't an answer."Do youhaveto bring Jacobi —" Hera began again.





	Not entirely unhelpful

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anon prompt on tumblr. Except it accidentally got way too long to post there.

"Captain, can you go to Doctor Hilbert's old lab?" Hera asked. "I know you're busy, but it's a bit urgent."

"A _bit_ urgent?" Jacobi asked, sardonically.

"I'm not talking to you," Hera said. "Captain Lovelace. Please?"

"You have to give me more details than that," Lovelace said. Still, she was already working to put the safety covers back in place over the engine's insides. "Is something on fire? About to explode? Do I have time to drop Jacobi off at the brig first?"

Hera hesitated. "Can't you just chain him up somewhere on the way?"

"Inhumane prisoner treatment," Jacobi said.

"Shut up," Lovelace told him. "Hera, you can either get us both now, or me on my own in ten minutes."

Hera made an annoyed sound. "Both of you now, then," she said. "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think Lieutenant Minkowski is in trouble."

"You should have _lead_ with that," Lovelace snapped. She prodded Jacobi along as she opened a comms channel. "Minkowski? Are you okay?"

There wasn't an answer.

"Do you _have_ to bring Jacobi —" Hera began again.

"Hera, I am very much not in the mood," Lovelace said. "Useful details. Now."

"I don't _know_ ," Hera insisted. "She won't talk to me. I think maybe she's… sick?"

They were outside the lab by then, and Lovelace flung open the door. "Minkowski?" she called. Then followed it, almost immediately, with a quiet, "Oh, crap."

Minkowski was pressed into the corner where two walls met, bracing herself there tightly with her hands, her body a vertical line of tension. There was something wrong about her expression.

"Minkowski," Lovelace said. Calmly. She floated slowly over in her direction.

"What's wrong with her?" Jacobi asked.

"Quiet," Lovelace said. Clearly something was very wrong, and Jacobi's comments weren't helping. Minkowski still hadn't looked at her. But when Lovelace came close, Minkowski abruptly brought up her knee and kicked. _Hard_ — her back was against the metal, so all of the force went into the foot to Lovelace's stomach, knocking the air out of her. With an _oof_ she tumbled across the room and banged into the wall near the door

"That went well," Jacobi said.

Lovelace groaned, rubbing her midriff. "Ow. And I thought I told you to be quiet."

"I thought the situation might have changed," Jacobi said. "Hera, how long has she been acting like this?"

Minkowski continued pressing herself against the wall as if she hoped to push herself all the way through it.

"I'm not sure," Hera said. "She's been like _this_ for maybe twelve minutes, but I wasn't looking for anomalous behaviour before that. I tried to talk to her and she didn't answer."

Lovelace began another approach, this time moving along the wall, and with more caution. "Minkowski," she said. "Are you hearing me?"

Up close, Minkowski's breathing was shallow and rapid. Her eyes were wide. "Her pupils are blown way out," Lovelace said.

"Hera, what was she doing in here?" Jacobi asked. 

"Medical inventory," Hera said.

"What did she touch?"

"Mostly she looked through the cabinets to the left of the exam table. The one with the open door."

"Are you thinking she was exposed to something?" Lovelace asked.

Jacobi shrugged. "You knew Hilbert better than me, but he certainly seemed like a man who enjoyed collecting toxic chemicals."

"Take a look," Lovelace said. "Be careful. Put some gloves on or something."

She turned back to Minkowski. "Hey," she said, quietly. "It's me. We're friends, right?"

No reaction. She didn't think Minkowski was seeing her at all.

She moved a little closer. Minkowski flinched violently and hit out at her. Lovelace caught her wrist. Minkowski fought to get free, twisting her body and clutching at Lovelace's fingers with her other hand, but it was unfocused expression of mute terror on her face which made Lovelace release her grip and back off.

Minkowski didn't settle back into stillness this time. She remained pressed into the corner but kept moving in small jerky twitches.

"This is really bad," Lovelace said. "When I had her arm — she's burning up."

"She looks worse," Hera said.

"I know. Jacobi, anything?"

"Possibly," Jacobi said. "I can't actually read Russian, but there's at least one bottle here with salt crystals around a bad cap seal. If they're a chemical absorbed through skin contact…"

"Hold up the bottle so I can see the label," Hera said. Jacobi did so, and she made a disgusted noise. 

"What?" Lovelace asked.

"It just says 'Sample no. 3'. Unhelpful."

Minkowski moaned softly. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, shuddering.

Jacobi gave her a calculating look. "If Lovelace grabs her arms, I can knock her out."

"Is that supposed to be a helpful suggestion?" Hera demanded. "Because —"

Lovelace held up a hand to cut her off. "I don't think we're there quite yet."

"No, really, what is that _solution_ supposed to achieve?" Hera asked, angrily.

Jacobi gave an aggravated sigh. "Look, robot-brain, whatever she's experiencing right now is making her freak the hell out. I'm going to take a bet that whatever toxic shit is doing that is also sending her heart rate and blood pressure way up. If we get her unconscious that should help, and we can start bringing her temperature down. And, you know, get a better idea of what else Sample No. 3 is doing to her. Any of those things sound _helpful_ to you?"

"Such a mystery why nobody likes you," Hera snapped.

"Hera, that's _enough_ ," Lovelace ordered. "I know Jacobi's an ass, but he's not actually wrong. _However_ ," she continued, as Jacobi drew breath to speak, "I can't help but think adding head trauma into the mix would be a really bad idea."

"Well sure, in an ideal world," Jacobi countered.

Lovelace turned her back on him, and began approaching Minkowski again. She ignored Jacobi's deep sigh of _You're wasting everyone's time_. "Minkowski," she said. "I want you to look at me. Okay?"

Minkowski shifted back at her approach, didn't lift her head.

"Okay, you don't have to do that if you don't want to." Lovelace cast for another tack. "How about you _close_ your eyes, and just listen to me?"

She more than half suspected that Minkowski wasn't hearing her at all. But then her eyelids fluttered shut.

"Hey, that's great," Lovelace said, encouraged. "Do you know who I am?"

Another long pause, then a fraction of a nod. Lovelace blew out a relieved breath.

"I want to help you," she said. "Do you know _where_ you are?"

A head-shake.

"You're safe," Lovelace said. "You've been exposed to something, and it's making you sick."

Minkowski dug the heels of her palms against her forearms, rubbing them slowly up and down. The lights caught the sheen on her face as she twisted, uncertain.

Lovelace sensed Jacobi's approach, but didn't look round. "I found a sedative," he murmured into her ear. "I've got it in an injection pen."

She gave him a thumbs-up of acknowledgement. "Minkowski," she said. "I'm coming closer. Okay?"

Minkowski moaned.

"It's okay, it's okay," Lovelace said. "I know you trust me. We trust each other. Right?"

She moved towards Minkowski, taking care that it wasn't a silent approach. Minkowski flinched, her breath hitching.

"Don't open your eyes —" Lovelace began, too late. Minkowski jerked and her hands became claws, nails digging into her arms, tearing her skin.

"Grab her wrists," Jacobi ordered. He kicked forward and Minkowski twisted away, slamming against the wall. 

"Jacobi, get _back_!" Lovelace snarled. She grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him hard. He shoved at her. Minkowski thrashed rigidly, her head tipping back.

"She's seizing!" Jacobi snapped. "Let go!"

Lovelace released her grip and he dove towards Minkowski and pulled her away from the wall. Her flailing hand caught him in the face but he didn't desist until he had got her into the relative safety of the empty air, where she couldn't hurt herself against anything.

"Is she —" Hera began. "What's happening?"

Jacobi took a couple of deep breaths. "Think of it like the bit just before a computer crash, when everything's overclocked and misfiring," he said, somehow already sounding confident and mostly calm. Lovelace couldn't tell whether they were his real feelings, or if he was bullshitting.

"But when's it going to _stop_?" Hera demanded. She didn't sound reassured by either the metaphor or by what she could see.

"Soon?" Lovelace said. She was having to fight to resist the urge to try and hold Minkowski still. Even if it was an act, she envied Jacobi's calm. "I don't think seizures last very long…"

However long it actually was, it seemed an age before Minkowski abruptly stopped shaking and went completely limp. Lovelace reached her just before Jacobi. "She's out," she said. "God, feel her temperature."

"Lucky we're already in medical," Jacobi said. There was a bruise rising on his jaw from Minkowski's wayward fist; Lovelace considered it nothing more than he deserved.

She caught Minkowski around the waist and moved her gently to the table, securing her lightly. The monitors, when attached, showed readings just as alarming as she had feared. "What do we do now?" she asked, mostly to herself.

"You let me take over," Jacobi said.

"What, you're a doctor now?" Lovelace asked. 

"Maybe not, but I've developed a wide skill-set in the SI5," Jacobi said. "I do know the basics of what's likely to help her body get through this. Do you?"

"Not really," Lovelace admitted, reluctantly. "I have training, but…"

"It's mostly first-aid for various physical traumas and assumed there would be several people on your crew with more in-depth medical knowledge?" Jacobi suggested. "Yeah, that's standard for your assignment."

"How do we know you won't make things worse?" Hera asked.

Jacobi sighed in deep irritation. "Please do give me some ideas for how I could. I promise I'll be impressed to hear them."

"We're not starting this again," Lovelace said. She laid her hand gently along Minkowski's face. "Jacobi, do what you can to help Minkowski. I'll — Well, someone needs to fill Eiffel in."

-

"Guys, I think she's waking up," Hera said.

Lovelace beat the others over, abandoning her hand of cards to the air. "Are you sure?" she said, just before Minkowski's eyes opened. 

"Hey, Commander," Eiffel said. "You back with us?"

"I… think so?" Minkowski said. Her voice was faint, but she was unquestionably herself. "What…"

"What happened?" Lovelace asked. Minkowski nodded, and Lovelace took her hand. "Contact-exposure to one of Hilbert's fun mystery substances. You were… in a bad way. We were all pretty scared, but you're going to be fine."

Minkowski shuddered. "I remember… something," she said. "Being so afraid. You were there?"

"Yeah," Lovelace said. "I was. Me and Jacobi."

"Thanks," Minkowski murmured.

"I hope that thanks was for me too," Jacobi said. He was hanging back a bit, fake-casual.

Lovelace rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, gold star for Mr Jacobi here."

Minkowski smiled a bit. "Glad you're all… getting along."

"Well, Hera still doesn't like me," Jacobi said. "I think I'm growing on everyone else, though."

Hera sighed loudly. " _Fine_ , you weren't entirely unhelpful," she said.

"I can't have heard that right," Jacobi said. "Was that praise?"

"No," Hera said.

" _Yes_ ," Lovelace said. "I know he's being insufferable, but without him…"

Hera huffed. "Okay, fine. Maybe it was. But don't think you're getting any more."

Minkowski laughed. Then sighed. "Wow, I'm tired."

"Go back to sleep," Lovelace told her. "We'll all be here."

"Even Jacobi's got a brig reprieve," Hera said. "For… adequate behaviour."

Jacobi muttered something under his breath. Lovelace was sure it was extremely sarcastic.


End file.
